Killers Never Sleep, page 15
Hagen spotted two of his guards sitting on the wide front porch of the hotel. Each man held his rifle low against his side. Both men were on the tall side, lean and good with a gun. They had long faces and dark moustaches, just like all the gunmen who worked for him.
One was named Fuller and the other was called Knothe. He did not know which one was which and chose not to embarrass himself by guessing.
“Afternoon, Mr. Hagen,” they greeted in unison.
“Keep a sharp eye out, boys. There’s bound to be some excitement soon. Where’s Mr. Miller?”
“Haven’t seen him,” one of them said. “We’ve been minding the front. Got another two at the back. The front desk might know where he is.”
Hagen passed between them and went to the front desk. Mr. Lee’s fleshy face brightened into a smile. “Welcome back, Mr. Hagen. It’s certainly been quite a busy day so far.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Where’s Mr. Miller?”
“I haven’t seen him in quite some time.” He looked back at the large, ornate brass clock that sat atop the mail slots for the guest rooms. “In fact, I haven’t seen him in more than an hour. I’m sure he’s inside manning the chalk boards for the Washington matter. He was doing quite a brisk business earlier this morning, last I checked.”
Hagen was too tired to traipse through the gaming floor, offer fake smiles to the customers who wanted to speak to him, and glad-hand the high rollers. And since he was the boss, he had the benefit of options.
“Send someone to find him and have him come up to my suite as soon as possible. I want to get some sleep, so tell him to be quick about it.”
He began to walk up the stairs and found himself grateful he had taken the suite at the top of the first landing as his own. He remembered how Rube Miller had seen it as an odd choice at first, given how close it was to the center of the hotel. Virtually every guest would pass by his doors on their way up to their rooms at all hours of the day and night, which made it the least private suite in the hotel.
But Hagen had not wanted privacy. He had wanted to be at the very heart of the operation. He learned much from the casual conversations and the mumblings of the drunks who passed by his door. He could gauge how well the place was doing without having to solely rely on others to feed him what they wanted to tell him.
Hagen took his key from his pocket and began to open the door to his suite.
He caught a rush of movement inside. The safe door was open.
Reflex made Hagen reach for the gun on his hip as he dropped to a crouch. Sight of a man with a Winchester made him dive to the side just as a bullet struck the half-opened door, shutting it instantly.
Two more bullets pierced the wall and hit the carpet as Hagen, Colt in hand, dashed for cover behind the stairs. The two guards from the front rushed up from the lobby, their rifles at their shoulders.
“Stay back,” Hagen told them. “Someone just took a shot at me.”
“From where?” one of the gunmen asked.
“My suite.” The words did not sound real to him as the weight of the situation finally settled on him. “Good God. I think I’m being robbed!”
Hagen removed his hat and chanced a quick look over the top stair. The door to his suite was closed, but not all the way.
From inside the suite, a man called out, “That you out there, Hagen?”
“It’s me. You’re a lousy shot, whoever you are. You didn’t come close to hitting me.”
“Play it smart and I won’t have to hit you at all. Or your friend, neither. Mr. Miller’s in here keeping us company.”
Of course, Miller would be in there. They must have grabbed him down on the gaming floor. They had made him use his key to open the door without drawing much attention. They would have had to destroy the door to open it otherwise.
“Is he alive?” Hagen shouted back.
“He is for now but doing poorly. I don’t think he can take another beating.”
One of his guards rose to the next stair below him. “That door’s still open, Mr. Hagen. Me and Knothe can bust in there and end this before they get dug in.”
Hagen pushed him down. “They’re already dug in and have been for quite some time. They’ve got my safe open and have taken cover behind it. We’ll be cut to pieces if we try to rush them now.” He told Knothe, “Get the rest of the boys together in the lobby, then come back here. I need to find out more about this character.”
As Knothe went on his way, the man inside the suite called out, “You still out there, Hagen?”
“As long as you’re in there, I’m not going anywhere,” Hagen said. “Let me guess. You must be one of the LeBlanc brothers.”
“You’re a pretty smart man for a drunk,” the man laughed.
Hagen almost wished he were drunk now. “Which one are you? I imagine Burt’s probably the one who got my safe open, isn’t he?”
“The name’s Rick,” the man yelled back, “and we’re all in here as one big happy family. This old safe of yours wasn’t nearly as tough as you made it out to be. All that fancy talk about timers and such almost had my brother cowed, but not me.”
Hagen regretted not using the timer, but it was always such a chore to have to wait for the right time to put his money in his own safe. But now was not the time for regret. He was playing a high-stakes game of poker with an angry brother bent on greed and revenge.
He decided to follow some of his own advice to Trammel. He would play the man and not the cards in front of him. “Sounds like you had this pretty well thought out, Rick. Wayne told me you were the brains of the outfit. Almost as sharp as him. You’re fashionable, too. Taking hostages seems to be all the rage in Wyoming these days. First the Washington Gang takes Brandt, now you boys grab Miller. Guess you never thought you’d be called fashionable, did you?”
“And we’re going to be a lot more fashionable once we leave here with all your money. How much do you have in there? We’re down to the last lock so we’ll find out soon enough. Telling me now would save us a lot of time counting it later.”
“A hundred thousand,” Hagen lied. “Not that you’ll live long enough to spend it. But I’m not a man who likes to hold a grudge, so I’ll make a deal with you. Climb out the window, leave Miller where he is, and I promise I won’t come looking for you. We’ll call it even for what happened with your brother.” He decided to add something to the pot for the sake of the other LeBlanc brothers who might be listening. “Do it now and I’ll have a thousand dollars put into the saddlebags of your horses. That ought to help you overcome your grief.”
Rick cut loose with a sharp laugh. “We’re greedy, not grieving, Hagen. What kind of fools do you take us for? We’re not dumb enough to take five of something when we could have a hundred of everything. So, unless you want your friend Miller here to start serenading you with his screams, here’s what you’re gonna do for us. You’re going to send one of your boys to get our horses and tack out of the livery of this fancy hotel of yours. You’re gonna have them brought to the alley, even Wayne’s. You’re gonna put a ladder up to the window so we can climb down—with not just your money, but with your friend Miller. When we get clear and we’re sure you don’t have anyone following us, we’ll let him go and we’ll be on our way.”
Hagen suppressed a yawn. He really could have used that nap. “You’re banking on Miller meaning something to me. Making him open my suite to you has decreased his worth considerably. What if I don’t care about what happens to him?”
“You care,” Rick said. “If you didn’t, you would’ve had your men rush us by now.” He whispered to someone, and the suite door was pushed shut. The lock thrown.
“The time for that is over,” Rick went on. “Give us what we want, and we all walk away from this clean. You can always make more money.”
Hagen had tried to flatter him. Now it was time to frighten him. “When you boys were down in New Orleans, did you ever come to hear about me?”
“We did,” Rick shouted back, “but we were just starting to make a name for ourselves back then. If we’d known you were such an easy mark, we would’ve taken a run at you earlier than now.”
Hagen wished they had. They would have been long dead. “Then I’m sure you know I’ve never allowed anyone to steal from me and live. You boys won’t be any different. I’ll have your horses brought to the alley just like you want. If you leave now, I’ll let you live. If not, you’ll meet a worse fate than Wayne did. He died terribly, but I’m sure you’ve already heard that.”
Rick laughed again. “We know how to take care of ourselves. But you’d best get those horses ready anyway. Mr. Miller will thank you for it.”
Hagen winced as he heard a thud followed by a scream he assumed belonged to Rube Miller.
Hagen moved down to a lower step as Fuller kept watching the door. “What do you make of it, Mr. Hagen?”
Hagen ran his fingers over his scalp. “I think I killed the wrong LeBlanc.”
* * *
Trammel balled up the telegram the clerk handed to him as he stormed out of the telegraph office. He had read some dumb ideas from back east, but this was one for the ages.
“Steve,” he heard Emily say as she came to him. “One of my patients told me Adam is back. Is it true? Lefty Rollins is dead?”
Seeing her again reminded him of how he had left their last conversation at the dinner table. How unpleasant it had been. He never liked quarrelling with her, especially now with everything going so wrong all at once.
He led her off the boardwalk and away from any citizens who might overhear them. “Not so loud. I’m trying to keep the lid on this place. And yes, it’s true. Lefty got killed by one of Washington’s bunch. The man who shot him is dead, too, according to Adam.”
“That poor old man,” Emily said. “I hope he didn’t suffer.”
“He died as well as he could’ve wanted,” Trammel said. “He died doing his job. His duty.”
Emily frowned as she looked at the balled-up telegram in his hand. “Is that more bad news?”
Trammel knew she did not like him to share his troubles with her, but since she had asked, he had to tell her. “I sent a message to Washington, D.C., to tell them Lefty was dead and to send a judge here to Laramie so we could have the trial here.”
Her eyes brightened. “That was a good idea. What did they say?”
“That Judge Delker is already in Cheyenne and that’s where he’s going to stay. They’re afraid it’s too dangerous for him to come here, so we’re going to have to bring Ben Washington to Cheyenne after all. Gang or no gang.”
Emily had the same reaction as Trammel had upon reading the news. “But why can’t you keep him here until they send more deputy marshals to pick him up and bring him back? Ben Washington is their responsibility, not yours.”
Trammel knew the next part would be the hardest for her. “I told them that, but the nearest deputy is a three-day ride from here. Instead of changing their mind, they decided to make Washington my responsibility. They’ve made me Acting U.S. Marshal for the territory.”
Emily brought her hand up to her mouth. “Oh, Steve.” He could not tell whether she was happy or saddened by the news.
He handed the telegram to her. “It’s actually Temporary Acting U.S. Marshal. It’ll stay that way until the deputies get back to Cheyenne since I’m the closest lawman to the capital. They’ll figure out who’ll get it later after the trial, but for now, I’m the one.”
He could remember a time when he would have been honored by the assignment. But after all that happened in the past day, it felt like a cruel joke. “I’m a sheriff without deputies and a marshal without deputies. It’s just me and Hawkeye, I guess.”
She took his hand in her own. “What do you mean? What happened?”
“I got into a fight with Blake. He wanted to ride out after the Washington Gang after we found out they’d killed Rollins. I knew they’d be expecting that, so I decided to keep everyone here. I thought the folks back in Washington would’ve agreed to have the trial here, but that’s not the case.”
She smiled up at him. “You mean you did your best to stay here instead.”
Trammel smiled back. “Guess your words made more of a dent in that hard head of mine than you thought. Charging out after them just didn’t make any sense. Blake called me a coward and I fired him because of it.”
Emily’s smile faded. “But you didn’t hit him, did you?”
“Adam stopped it from going that far,” Trammel admitted, “but Blake’s popular with the men. When he leaves, they’ll go with him. It’ll just be me and Hawkeye left to mind the town. I turned them back once, but it won’t be so easy the second time around.”
She held his hand tightly. “You know, I didn’t get a chance to say everything I wanted to say when we fought over dinner.”
Trammel was eager to move past that. “I was wrong. I could see you were upset, but I wasn’t thinking.”
“I wasn’t upset,” she told him. “It’s just like I told you about everything being different now. I was going to say that you and I have always been able to live through the dangers of your job. But things are different now because it’s not just about you and me anymore.”
Trammel knew that much was certain. “You’re right. Laramie’s a whole lot bigger than Blackstone.”
She stepped forward and pressed his hand against her stomach. “And it’s about to get a little bigger still.”
Trammel did not understand. She was far from heavy and had always ate little until the last couple of weeks.
And then the realization of what she had meant overwhelmed him and he dropped to a knee. Her stomach was a bit rounder than normal. “You mean it? But I didn’t think you could.”
“So did I.” She beamed. “But it looks like I was wrong. Some doctor I turned out to be.”
Any thoughts of Ben Washington and his gang and Judge Delker and Sherwood Blake left him. All that mattered was Emily and the tiny life he now knew was growing within her.
He stood up again and gathered her close to him. He did not care about protecting Laramie or Cheyenne or anyone else except her and the baby. Their baby. “This changes everything. It’ll all be different from now on.”
He could hear Emily quietly weep against his shirt. “After our last fight, I didn’t know if you’d be happy.”
Trammel had not known what true happiness had felt like before meeting Emily. But what he felt in that moment was something so much beyond happiness that he could not describe it. It was as though a piece of him he had not known was missing had fallen into place.
“I’ll get this mess with Washington figured out, and I’ll hire on new men. Good men. Maybe one who can take my place before the baby comes.”
Emily eased away enough to look up at him. “Laramie already has a good man, Steve. It has you and it doesn’t know how lucky it is to have you. I want you to keep your mind on your work just like you’ve always done. You’ve got a lot to live for, Sheriff Trammel.”
He took her up in his arms again. “I already did even before you told me.”
He shut his eyes as he heard someone running toward him along the boardwalk. He had heard that gait before.
“Sorry, boss,” Hawkeye said. “I hate to bother you, but there’s trouble over at The Laramie Grand.”
Trammel lifted his head from Emily’s. “Can’t Hagen’s men take care of it?”
“It’s not that simple,” Hawkeye persisted. “Someone’s broken into his room. They’re stealing his money and are holding Rube Miller captive.”
Trammel did not want to let Emily go. He did not want to let this moment escape him. He wanted to feel like this forever and let the world go on tearing itself apart.
But Emily gently pulled away from him. “Go, Steve. You have a job to do, and I still have a room full of patients to tend to. I’ll see you when it’s over.”
Trammel kissed both her hands before he joined Hawkeye on the boardwalk and began to head to The Laramie Grand. He was still dizzy from Emily’s news but tried to focus on the problem at hand. “You see any sign of Blake around?”
“Saw him and the others heading over to the livery when I came looking for you,” Hawkeye told him. “I called out to them, but I don’t think they heard me. I figured getting you was more important.”
“You did right,” Trammel said. “How many were with him?”
“All of them,” Hawkeye said. “Johnny Welch, Charlie Root, Brillheart, and Bush, too. It’s not like them to just ignore me like that. I wonder what I did to make them so angry.”
Trammel figured Hawkeye had not yet heard about his fight with Blake in the courtyard. Blake had made good on his promise to leave and pull the rest of his friends with them. That would leave Trammel and Hawkeye alone to protect the town with growing dangers everywhere he turned.
He did not have time to explain it all to Hawkeye but knew the boy could be relied upon to deliver whatever message Trammel gave him. And he could only think of one gesture that might be strong enough to keep Blake and the others from leaving town.
He unpinned the sheriff’s star from his shirt and handed it to Hawkeye. “I want you to run over to the livery and give this to Blake. Tell him he can keep it if he stays.”
Hawkeye held the star as if Trammel had just handed him an anvil. “But this is your star, boss.”
“Just give it to him. And have him and the others get their rifles and meet us at the hotel. Tell them to be quick about it. We’ve got a night’s work ahead of us.”
CHAPTER 18
Mahaffey kept Brandt by his side as the outlaws walked their horses through the gnarled, raised roots that ran along the ground of the pine forest.
Brandt said, “Guess I ought to thank you for cutting my hands free, but I’m too low for gratitude at the moment.”
“Can’t say as I blame you,” Mahaffey said. “Seems like you and Rollins were close.”
“Not close, but I respected him, and I’d like to think he respected me, too.”
